WaterSmart Software Taps Into Seed Funding
Innovative approach to water efficiency gaining traction
WaterSmart Software, a water efficiency startup, recently closed a $900,000 seed round of financing led by Menlo Incubator. Also participating in the round were Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Physic Ventures, and Sand Hill Angels.
WaterSmart, founded in late 2009 by water industry veterans Peter Yolles and Robert Steiner, will use the funding to build out its customer engagement platform for water utilities. Water utilities use the WaterSmart platform to accelerate adoption of residential water efficiency programs and engage consumer in water efficiency. WaterSmart currently has two pilot projects underway in California and will expand its pilot program to include four additional water utilities in 2011. They are also expanding the team and are currently hiring software developers and designers.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with a such a supportive and distinguished group of investors to develop our customer engagement solution, which uses sophisticated programming to produce simple, compelling water saving solutions for homeowners," said Peter Yolles, co-founder and CEO.
WaterSmart provides water utilities with turnkey residential water efficiency programs that increase the adoption of water efficient behaviors, devices and appliances. The programs enable homeowners to better understand how they use their water, how they compare to their neighbors and what specific, personalized things they can do now to take a bite out of their ever-increasing water bills.
"WaterSmart brings meter data to life and empowers homeowners with the tools and the personalized data they need to reduce their water use without sacrificing their quality of life. They make it easy and fun to be water efficient," says Andrew Williamson, a Director at Physic Ventures.
Water scarcity, variability of weather and climate, and infrastructure requirements are driving up water prices throughout the United States. Water utilities are increasingly looking to conservation and efficiency to alleviate these pressures. WaterSmart delivers an affordable, scalable and innovative approach to engaging customers around water use and results in significant cost-savings to utilities.
"We really believe in the value proposition that WaterSmart provides to water utilities, which are seeking ways to improve water efficiency for their residential customers," says Don Wood, Managing Director at DFJ.
Gary Kremen, member of Sand Hill Angels and Co-Founder of Menlo Incubator, will join WaterSmart's board. "WaterSmart was the first company in our incubator and it has been exciting to see the tremendous progress over the past six months. I look forward to helping the company deploy its solution to water utilities across the country." says Kremen.
About WaterSmart Software
Rob Steiner and Peter Yolles founded WaterSmart Software in October 2009. With extensive careers focused on water management, they identified a need to apply updated web technology, data analytics and behavioral science to improve municipal water efficiency. By deploying WaterSmart's customer engagement solution, utilities can accelerate their water efficiency programs and generate significant avoided cost savings. WaterSmart was a winner of Imagine H2O's inaugural water efficiency prize in March 2010. WaterSmart is based in California and has offices in the San Francisco and San Diego areas. For more information, visit www.watersmartsoftware.com.
About Menlo Incubator
Menlo Incubator is a startup incubator founded by Gary Kremen and Steven Bennet that offers office space, funding, networking and more to help early stage companies reach their goals. Menlo Incubator offers assistance with fundraising, mentorship, staff and interns. Menlo's ultimate goal is to use their experience and knowledge to help new companies succeed. For more information, visit www.menloincubator.com.
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson
DFJ backs extraordinary entrepreneurs everywhere who set out to change the world. DFJ achieves its mission through its DFJ Global Network of Partner Funds. Over the past 25 years, DFJ and its partners have backed over 600 companies, and have pioneered the way in emerging technology markets including the Internet, mobile communications, clean energy and health care. DFJ has been proud to back industry changing successes including Baidu, Skype, Overture, Hotmail, Parametric Technologies, Focus Media, AdMob, Mobile365, EnerNOC, Tesla, SolarCity, Brightsource Energy, Athenahealth, Epocrates, SpaceX and Synthetic Genomics. For more information, visit www.dfj.com.
About Physic Ventures
Physic Ventures provides capital and expertise to science-based, consumer-driven health and sustainable living companies. The firm's strategy is to capitalize on major economic, social and political trends shaping the landscape of personal and planetary health. WaterSmart joins a number of innovative sustainability companies in the Physic portfolio, including EnergyHub, a supplier of residential energy efficiency solutions, and Recyclebank, the leading environmental social platform for rewarding green actions. For more information, visit www.physicventures.com.
About Sand Hill Angels
Sand Hill Angels is a group of successful Silicon Valley executives and accredited investors that are passionate about entrepreneurialism and the commercialization of disruptive new technologies. Sand Hill Angels makes early stage investments in promising start-ups and seek to provide expertise and assistance in these fledgling enterprises. They are in the business of helping entrepreneur dreams come true. Their experience spans all aspects of growing successful companies from the formative stage through management of multi-billion dollar enterprises. Sand Hill Angels focus on investments in the Internet, Information Technology, Clean Tech, Consumer, and Life Sciences businesses. For more information, visit www.sandhillangels.com.
SOURCE: WaterSmart Software